I dehydrated nine trays of papaya slices today. The other papaya is what I have left from previous batches. I keep some in the frig in canning jars and I vacuum packed some.

How do you store your dried food?

Christine

Those papayas make me wish I could grow those up here. They are really beautiful, too - so colorful and fresh-looking. My oldest son adores dried papaya, and it's really expensive here. When I buy some, it disappears within minutes unless I dole out servings and hide the bag! If I showed him your picture he'd be drooling. :-D

I am hoping to get a dehydrator for Christmas (I put it on my wish list). My oven is electric, and its minimum temperature is 200F - so it's too hot for dehydrating.

Mostly, though, I am hoping to dehydrate apples and peaches off my trees, as well as vegetables and herbs from the garden. I do a little canning, but storage space is a big problem for me. Dehydrated foods take up a lot less space. I know most dehydrated fruits need to be stored in the fridge or freezer because they can mold, but they are fine at room temperature over the short-term, so when a hurricane knocks out our power for days I won't lose them. I'd also like to learn to make fruit roll-ups/fruit leather for my kids.

Christine, we have had a four tray Excalibur for years. It has worked well for us. I have done a lot of jerky in it and my wife has dried various fruits. We've never tried papaya, but have had very good results with apples.

For jerky, I basically use red wine, soy sauce and honey, with variations, marinated over night in the frige. I havn't tried poultry, but I would try white wine and some spirits - and replace the soy sauce with salt.

I had to stop making jerky. We just couldn't stop scarfing it down.

I dehydrate tomatoes, mangos, bananas, papayas, jackfruit, peaches and any fruit I get to much to eat quickly.

L n FL I made fruit leather this past summer out of mangos which we didn't really care for. I imagine kids would like it though.

Christine that is a good idea to store fruit in the vacuum packaging do you still put it in the fridge?

I recently started dehydrating peppers and rosemary which I will pulverize to make a dried spice mix, anyone else do this or do anyhing with herbs? I really should do more with my herbs.

I have five round dehydrators which I use all the time. Keiki, I have dried and ground hot peppers and found that the resulting dust is almost toxic! Eyes burn, nose runs, etc. Be careful. Christine, I also live near DeLand and couldn't grow papayas if my life depended on it. How do you proect them from frost? Re: vacuum packing dehydrated veggies. After drying, I put the product in mason jars and pull a vacuum on them using a tool called "Pump-N-Seal". It looks like a miniature bicycle pump and turns a glass jar into a vacuum chamber.

Very good info. I have a cheapo dehydrator and still have good luck with hardier fruits and veggies. My favorite are figs

L in Fl - Yes, I'm sure that you are too far north to get ripe fruit from papaya plants. You could grow them spring to fall if you had use of green papayas.

shuffles - Do you put lemon or fruitfresh, etc. on your apple slices to prevent them from turning brown? I borrowed a book about dehydrating from the library and there was a jerky recipe very similar to the one you use. Many years ago I used one that had Coke for a (beef) marinade but I can't remember what went with it.

Robin - It sounds like you get a lot of use out of your dehydrator. This is my first time vacuum packing dried fruit. I have not refrigerated it yet. I was sure to put super-dehydrated pieces in the vacuum bag. I haven't tried fruit leather yet. I'm thinking about making some with a bag of frozen persimmons I have. I guess I need to buy the special tray liners for making leather.

jgrass - You can grow papayas. You can buy plants already started in the spring at Lowes or Walmart. I recommend Red Lady because they are self pollinating. If I want to keep a papaya plant around for another year I will mound up wood chips along the trunk to about 2 1/2 to 3 feet high. In the spring I cut the trunk down to live tissue, ending at a horizontal plate inside the trunk. Can you reuse the lids after vacuuming the jar?

dirtycoconuts - I've done figs before. Tastes like fig candy. So super sweet. I had previously tried freezing figs but the flavor was so bland.

Christine

Keiki, I've used my microwave to dry herbs, between two pieces of paper towels. Just becareful the paper doesn't get too dry and catch on fire. And a lot I've just hung up side down in the winter to dry. The thing is for me they grow all year so I use them fresh instead.

Does the dehydrator cost alot to use? Electricity is so expensive here.

Christine, I am assuming you would cook the chicken or turkey first before dehydrating, right?

Christine, we use vitamin C to keep apples from turning brown. We also use it when freezing peaches.

This a great thread. I've been wanting to buy a dehydrator but keep over analyzing.......concerned about BPA in the plastic ones.

katkin - All of the chicken or turkey recipes that I have found call for cooked meat or cooking it in a marinade, then dehydrate. As for cost of electricity, I read that the cost is between 4-6 cents per hour. Not bad considering the cost of buying the food already dehydrated and the home dehydrated food would have gone to waste. And, there is no flavor comparison.

shuffles - By vitamin C, I presume that you take a tablet of vitamin C, crush it, then dissolve it in water.

mrs tlc - I think that the newer ones are BPA free. I'm going to check into that.

Christine

Christine, thanks for the info. 6 cents an hour isn't much at all. :o)

It might be cheaper to buy ascorbic acid (vitamin C) powder in bulk. It would definitely be easier to work with - no need to crush - and it wouldn't have colorings or other unwanted ingredients.

Would citric acid also work to prevent browning? After all, lemon juice is used to keep apples and peaches from browning in fruit salads, pies, etc. Citric acid powder is much cheaper than ascorbic acid powder.

(I've read that citric acid powder is also useful to add acid when canning tomato products...it's supposed to acidify without adding a lemony taste like lemon juice. I hope to have enough tomatoes next year to try that out.)

This morning I was checking out a series of YouTube videos from a lady who has an incredible passion for dehydrating. Her "handle" is dehydrate2store. She may even have a website that I haven't checked out yet. In one of the videos it shows her spraying lemon juice on apples. She may have taken a spray bottle top and screwed it onto a large lemon juice bottle. That may not be the case, but that's what it looked like. She said that prefers lemon juice as an antioxidant, but I'm concerned about the added lemon flavor. That may be okay for apples since they go together well but for veggies like potatoes...

Something else that I found very interesting is how she explained the use of oxygen absorber packets. She puts one in each canning jar and when she vacuum packs.

L in FL - Can I get the powdered ascorbic acid in stores or do I have to order it online? It is my understanding that adding extra acid when canning tomatoes is only necessary when canning low acid tomatoes. Many years ago when I did a LOT of tomato canning (40-50 quarts/yr), low acid tomatoes were very uncommon but that's not the case now.

Christine

Christine:
Yes, the conventional canning lids are reusable after being used for vacuum storage. You punch a small hold in the lid, cover it with the a piece of the tape supplied with the Pump-N-Seal and then place the pump over the tape and pump away. If you are careful not to bend the lid when you break the vacuum, you can reuse the lid as-is. I don't count, but I have some lids in continuous use for 5 years.

jgrass - Sounds good. I will check it out.

Christine, you might be able to find ascorbic acid powder in a health food store, but likely it would have sweeteners or flavorings. Maybe you can find some plain, I don't know.

Supposedly the citric acid powder does not leave a citrus/lemon taste. That's what I have read, but I've never used it.

I'll have to check out those dehydrating videos if "Santa" brings me a dehydrator. :-D

L in FL - I'm sure I can order ascorbic acid online. I have seen it in a side ad during one of my amazon searches. I just ordered the fruit leather sheets to go with my Excalibur. I dehydrated 3 more quart jars of papaya yesterday. I had one tray left over so I dehydrated a few tomatoes and starfruits.

jgrass - I watched the Pump-N-Seal video. That simple system seems amazing. It will seal any jar that has a gasket. Wow. I'm going to order one today. Thanks for the idea.

Christine

Christine, we use the ascorbic acid powder. We purchased a 227 gram jar at Whole Foods for five or six dollars. We also use citric acid in the kitchen. I seem to remember using it in a jerky recipe. Lately we mostly use it when making home-made mineral water.

How did the starfruit drying work out? Any special preparation? We usually just slice and freeze ours. Commercial dried starfruit, and most all dried fruit for that matter, have added sugar. I think the sugar keeps the fruit from getting hard.

shuffles - I did order pure ascorbic powder online today. It did cost more than $6, but I saved money in gas not having to look for it in stores. Unfortunately, there is no Whole Foods around here. It would be great if there was.

The starfruit came out just fine. It is very tasty and sweet. No special prep. I only tried two fruits so there isn't enough left to take a pic. I'm going to climb a ladder to get more fruits to dehydrate so no more starfruits spoil or get past prime. They're too good to waste. I'll post a picture when I do.

Starfruits are one of my favorite things to dehydrate. I eat them up so quickly.

I have never used anything to stop the color change of my fruit except sometimes on bananas, I always just thought of it being natural. With the bananas I used what ever citrus I had on hand. Is it worth the extra cost and the use of a perservative?

keiki - I like the starfruit dehydrated too. They taste like starfruit raisins. I got the pure powdered ascorbic acid in mail yesterday. I have more papaya and starfruit to dehydrate today so I'll do a comparison. I know that apples and potatoes must have an antioxidant on them. I just bought the new book out called "The Dehydrator Bible" that has a lot of info and helpful suggestions. It even has recipes for dog treats and tea.

Christine

I did get a dehydrator for Christmas. A vacuum sealer, too. I have my first batch of bananas drying right now. I intend to try out the vacuum sealer with some of them when they are finished - assuming that the kids don't eat them all up as soon as they are done. :-D

They smell good dehydrating; the smell really fills the house. Now I can understand why hot peppers, onions, and garlic need to be dehydrated outside!

What's your favorite brand of dehydrator?

L in Fl - What a wonderful Christmas present. What kind did you get? I agree with you about the aroma in the house. I have been dehydrating more papaya and it makes my kitchen smell sweet. It's great to dehydrate on cold days because of the heat that it gives off, but if this warmer weather keeps up, I'm going to have to dehydrate in my screened back porch.

Mrs TLC - Who are you asking? I'm still quite pleased with my Excalibur.

Christine

Christine - everyone really... there are so many brands/styles. I would like to find a stainless steel on that has the fan & heating element in the rear like the Excaliber and doesn't cost a fortune. I think the ones with the fan on top or bottom wouldn't dry as evenly. Maybe I'm just over thinking but I want to be happy with one when I finally get it!!! LOL

Christine - it's a Nesco dehydrator, the round one. I'll be doing some more bananas tomorrow if time permits. :-)

Does anyone have one of those jerky guns? Are they worth the money? If you don't have one, how do you make jerky? (Son #2 is really after me to make some beef jerky now!)

Mrs TLC - I have to tell you that my Excalibur doesn't dry foods as evenly as advertized. Food and trays still need to be moved around while drying. My old American Harvester, now called Nesco, worked quite well for me. I consider it a good buy for the money.

L_in_FL - I did buy a jerky gun but I haven't use it yet. I wish that I watched the jerky videos more carefully before buying the gun because I didn't realize that the ground meat has to be mixed with chemicals so it can turn into a paste. That didn't appeal to me. I need to do more research on that. If anyone has experience with a jerky gun, I would like to know also.

You don't need a jerky gun to make jerky. It's only for ground meat. I want to learn how to make ground turkey jerky because it is healthier than beef. Years ago when I made beef jerky I would ask the butcher at Publix to slice the meat for me. That is really important so you get the slices the right thickness. I have seen some videos on making jerky with sliced chicken breasts. I want to give that a try.

Christine

L in FL ... I am fairly new to dehydrating and got an early Christmas present, a Nesco 700 watt. It doesn't sit idle very long. I've dried a variety of things, to see how and what I want to continue doing, for long term storage. Fresh: Cantaloupe, mangos, bananas, orange slices, lime slices, Cilantro, Basil, carrots, sweet potatoes Frozen: Green beans, broccoli, peas, corn.

Having an orange tree in my back yard, for the first time I made marmalade. Oh my, I never knew I would like it so much. So off to buy more jars, sugar and lemons to make some more.

Sandra

Christine - I was wondering how to get the meat sliced thin enough for jerky. Can't believe it never occurred to me to ask the butcher. D'oh!

Do you remember which cuts of beef you used or how thin you asked the butcher to slice them?

As to turkey jerky, my Publix often has fresh turkey breasts (no solutions added) for sale. If you can make jerky from chicken breasts, I don't see why you couldn't use turkey breasts - they might be more flavorful, too. Whether it is any cheaper would depend on what's on sale, I guess.

Sandra - How did the cantaloupe turn out? My kids love, love, love cantaloupe.

Thanks,
Laura

This post was edited by L_in_FL on Sat, Jan 12, 13 at 11:21

Laura - London broil is what I used. An experienced butcher will know what setting is needed. Just don't get it sliced too thin. It's amazing just how much water food contains and how little food you get after most of the water is gone.

From what I read, turkey and chicken are interchangeable in recipes.

Christine

Wow, I'm surprised to hear that the Excalibur doesn't dry as evenly as it should.

I have borrowed my neighbor's which is the Nesco Gardenmaster I think. It did a great job but I was only drying herbs. I wasn't crazy about the round stacking trays, but definitely agree that it is a great value.

I'm leaning toward the Cabella's.